Pony ill - urgent ideas?

get a 2nd opinion you are entitled to it, don't leave it as the pony could be telling you it hurts to eat or unable to eat if impaction is there.

Don't delay as I would say this is really important, get them to check temperature and the pulse too as Melody had a raging pulse and high temperature when she had impaction

There is no point stuffing food in if it is not moving and the stomach has stopped working it will just fill up till it ruptures, not saying this is the cause but they need to find out what is happening in the food tract in case of blockage
 
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How are his gums and the insides of his eye lids, are they a healthy pink? We had a mare at our yard recently who showed similar signs but it turned out to be liver failure. I really hope this isn't the case for you but thought it worth mentioning.

Fingers tightly crossed for you. I hope he is better soon.
 
HGA-12 said:
Wow my donkey had compaction colic 6 weeks ago and wash rushed to RVC, and despite numerous attempts to clear the impaction including administrating fluid into the mass, and stomach drains, it filled up again when allowed to eat a little so much that the camera could not go in so had no choice but to call it a day.

If I had left her, her stomach would have ruptured :(
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I think bonkers had had the vet out, it was not diagnosed over the phone, the point being made was that in that case the diagnosis was clearly impaction, that appropriate treatment had been given and it needed a further two hours to clear before starting to be concerned. This pony has not been fully diagnosed and things can change within minutes so the vet being reluctant to come back out may mean something is not treated quickly enough.

Your donkey was very unlucky to not pull through but I guess his guts had stopped moving altogether for some reason and was beyond medical help.
 
Gums seem pink and eye lids look ok. Yes, vet took bloods but she said she's sending them to Liphook (?) to look at so will get results tomorrow. Wants it tested for liver problems and to see where we're at with his cushings. Have tried bread (thanks to the person who suggested) but honestly he wont even take a slice of apple or a mint right now. I dont get why earlier he wolfed down 15 mins of good grass and then started guzzling hay, now he's given up again. He's not stressing out as such, he just seems really lethargic. He's not kicking at his stomach or rolling etc. - vet said to call her immediately if he starts doing this. When I ask him to walk, he will do so pretty willingly and he practically marched off ahead of me when I lead him down the road a little while ago to try to give him long grass to eat. He was wondering round the garden half an hour ago spritely enough. Does a horse with colic walk ok? I would have expected him to not want to move.
 
be positive said:
I think bonkers had had the vet out, it was not diagnosed over the phone, the point being made was that in that case the diagnosis was clearly impaction, that appropriate treatment had been given and it needed a further two hours to clear before starting to be concerned. This pony has not been fully diagnosed and things can change within minutes so the vet being reluctant to come back out may mean something is not treated quickly enough.

Your donkey was very unlucky to not pull through but I guess his guts had stopped moving altogether for some reason and was beyond medical help.
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i know it was not diagnosed over the phone :)
Actually the gut was working fine on Melody it was her stomach that had stopped working and was not pushing the food through to the intestines

I agree the vet needs to come back and investigate further or refer him to equine hospital.

I would guess that a little bit of food was all he could manage in this situation, OP they need to do ultra sound to see if they can see anything or do a Gastroscopy
 
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It depends what type of colic it is, I have known them walk about very purposefully as it can help reduce the discomfort and get things moving, they do tend to know what is good for them and I suspect he is not eating because he is either getting bunged up, you dont mention if he has passed droppings or urine, sorry if you have and I missed it, or because he hurts somewhere, rolling and kicking at the belly are the classic signs but I think the quite ones can be in just as much pain they just handle it differently, being older he is switching off rather than shouting.
 
One of the mares I look after colicked 2 yrs ago, her symptoms were as follows;

started to tremble slightly whilst being groomed got worse within 2-3 minutes,
she started to do the flehming posture (raising her top lip)
I took her from the tie point and put her in the stable (all of 10-15 steps away)
She went in and laid down across the doorway, just laid there
vet called and on sight within ten mins
the mare had advanced compaction colic
No rolling, no not eating, no kicking or looking at belly, no sweating, no getting up and down- no classic symptoms at all.
her heart was racing due to pain and it took 48hrs to get her back to normal. she was given pain relief and responded well for 3 hrs but then i had to call vet who came to give a top up, that one lasted of ten hours.

a very different colic;
my daughters mare kept having spasmodic/gassy colic all classic symptoms, first time she had ever colicked and she was 18yrs, it was a complication due to heart failure, we had to PTS when scans showed an abnormal heart-cause was not determined (did not want an autopsy-she had never been bred from so no offspring to worry about) but was thought to be lymphoma.
In between the bouts of gassy colic this mare was lethergic and drinking, eating in fits and starts for the first few days-evidence of colicking up to 4 times per day-witnessed 3 times but very short bursts of 15-20 mins then over-it turns out that as her body was filling up with fluid due to an enlarged damaged heart she had no room for food and when she ate it made her uncomfortable. there is a thread on here about it that was started by me-I will try and find it but I don't know how to link to it
 
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Bonkers2 said:
I rather gulped at that I have to say, but I am not a vet. I have called a vet for impaction colics and they said, horse will be fine in two hours, but that was very definate diagnoses and not a general colic situation as you have.
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Yes, sorry, there were two horses and two impaction colics and two vets.
Obviously with colic the vet MUST attend, and often mild symptoms are just as serious as severe ones [I once had a struggle to get unknown vet receptionist to initiate an emergency callout, as horse was not showing classic signs].
One the intestine was emptied manually, can't recall about the other one. I have also had a colic due to overeating [spring grass up to their knees], but again that was diagnosed and treated, and things perked up.
 
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I really hope your pony gets better soon, good luck, as an outsider looking in, I agree that I would suspect teeth, I too would be trying to add something to the water just for a bit of energy like applejuice or really sloppy soaked sugar beet until you can get the dentist or vet out. I was taking vitamin B for energy when I read on the internet that years ago they use to give it to convelescing horse to increase appetite. I don't know if any one else has heard this, but this was what I found after a quick google:

B vitamins:
Whilst the B-group vitamins do not have any specific documented role in the healing process, horses recovering from injury may benefit from B vitamin supplementation. Pain may increase metabolic rates, which increases the need for B vitamins as they have significant roles in energy metabolism. Stress can decrease the synthesis of B vitamins in the large intestine and if the horse is not eating, there can be a short term benefit from oral or injectable B vitamin supplementation.

Good luck and keep us posted x
 
Livingthedreampony said:
I really hope your pony gets better soon, good luck, as an outsider looking in, I agree that I would suspect teeth, I too would be trying to add something to the water just for a bit of energy like applejuice or really sloppy soaked sugar beet until you can get the dentist or vet out. I was taking vitamin B for energy when I read on the internet that years ago they use to give it to convelescing horse to increase appetite. I don't know if any one else has heard this, but this was what I found after a quick google:

B vitamins:
Whilst the B-group vitamins do not have any specific documented role in the healing process, horses recovering from injury may benefit from B vitamin supplementation. Pain may increase metabolic rates, which increases the need for B vitamins as they have significant roles in energy metabolism. Stress can decrease the synthesis of B vitamins in the large intestine and if the horse is not eating, there can be a short term benefit from oral or injectable B vitamin supplementation.

Good luck and keep us posted x
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We used to inject calves with B12 to increase appetite if they were poorly and also used it on a very sick two year old filly, sadly she never responded. But B12 definitely helps a poor appetite, whether injected or fed orally

This is going to sound crazy but might be worth a try. Will he eat marmite? Possibly lick it off your hands? Firstly it is high in B12 and secondly you can most likely disguise other meds with it.
 
Thanks everyone, have read your comments. Called vet out again an hour ago as he had begun lying down totally flat and started wanting to roll so I honestly thought this was it. Vet however says he is still making good stomach sounds and is still passing normal poo (did a rectal again, and nothing to be found). She thinks its a build up of gas and possibly letting him eat earlier made it worse. He's had more bascopan and another painkiller and muscle relaxant as his stomach was tight, within 5 mins of that he is standing again quietly and not trying to lie down at the moment. She's said to give him only little offerings of food, but he's still yet to eat, however she thinks its ok he's not eating just now since he is still passing poo. One of the drugs wears off in 6 hours, she said to monitor him closely (and walk him about for 5 / 10 mins every hour, I'm actually doing that every 30 mins - he seems to be happy enough walking). If he starts to go down again that the decision will need to be made. I fear the worst, I was all ready for it when she came but she wanted to give this a go. She suggested he might have needed surgery but there's no way I'd put him through that at his age. He seems comfortable enough just now and I'll be shocked if he pulls through to be honest. Just can't believe this is how he's going to go, 23 years and we battled awful laminitis early on, the only issues he's ever had where to do with his feet - he's never ever been ill in any other way, not even a scratch. I just can't understand what has caused this. He's the very first pony my parents gave me, he's been around the vast majority of my life so I can't grasp life without him around to be honest. Wow, this sucks.
 
MagicMelon said:
Thanks everyone, have read your comments. Called vet out again an hour ago as he had begun lying down totally flat and started wanting to roll so I honestly thought this was it. Vet however says he is still making good stomach sounds and is still passing normal poo (did a rectal again, and nothing to be found). She thinks its a build up of gas and possibly letting him eat earlier made it worse. He's had more bascopan and another painkiller and muscle relaxant as his stomach was tight, within 5 mins of that he is standing again quietly and not trying to lie down at the moment. She's said to give him only little offerings of food, but he's still yet to eat, however she thinks its ok he's not eating just now since he is still passing poo. One of the drugs wears off in 6 hours, she said to monitor him closely (and walk him about for 5 / 10 mins every hour, I'm actually doing that every 30 mins - he seems to be happy enough walking). If he starts to go down again that the decision will need to be made. I fear the worst, I was all ready for it when she came but she wanted to give this a go. She suggested he might have needed surgery but there's no way I'd put him through that at his age. He seems comfortable enough just now and I'll be shocked if he pulls through to be honest. Just can't believe this is how he's going to go, 23 years and we battled awful laminitis early on, the only issues he's ever had where to do with his feet - he's never ever been ill in any other way, not even a scratch. I just can't understand what has caused this. He's the very first pony my parents gave me, he's been around the vast majority of my life so I can't grasp life without him around to be honest. Wow, this sucks.
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Know the feeling well my donkey was with me since 1993 my mare since 1989 before I lost them. Keeping everything crossed for your wee chap
 
So sorry your having to go through this I will keep my fingers crossed and pray he pulls through, I know how you feel I had my lovely mare pts 10 days ago it's heart breaking I know, thinking of you x
 
I am so sorry you are going through this :-( I hope he starts to improve soon.

I dont want to worry you any more but we had a horse that presented with colic symptoms, never had colic before, vet out, the pain killers/muscle relaxants helped, then the colic symptoms (albeit fairly mild) kept returning, we took him into Liphook vet hospital in the end as the vet still wasn't happy with him and they scoped to find no blockage but then they found he had a ruptured bowel, nothing they could do and they said it was just one of those things that could happen. So this horse didn't have colic in the traditional sense (gas or blockage) but the ruptured bowel was causing the colic symptoms.
 
So sorry to read of this.
I know you love him, but at 28 yrs old, you would not 'buy' him much time by operating.
Trying to word this gently - do think how long you are going to wait for signs of improvement. Don't wait too long.
S :)
 
Unfortunately when you have got them to a grand old age, as you have, with your care and attention, the end is often very stressful for the owner. Unless you decide on a planned pts because you don't want to put them through another winter, the end is some type of emergency. Our 31 yr old kept us and vets guessing for 6 weeks, 3 of them in the snow, before a neurological condition for which there was no cure was finally diagnosed. Needless to say she was pts that day.
I hope your pony pulls through but not sure I'd let the vet wait for long for improvement, really.
 
Did the vet check his teeth for diastemas? When my old pony went off his food I took him down to the vets aand they cleaned and packed some that had developed and it really helped his eating.

I hope your pony recovers.
 
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